Lefty has come out swinging against a fellow golfing great.
Phil Mickelson ripped into Fred Couples in a post on social media site X after Couples claimed that LIV Golf star Brooks Koepka wants to return to the PGA Tour.
Mickelson — who was one of the original defectors to Saudi-backed LIV Golf and one of the faces of the breakaway tour — called out Couples, saying that it was a “jerk move” to comment on Koepka’s future.
“If it’s not true, he damaged a relationship which he cares about. If it is true, he took away Brook’s (sic) control of the timeline and narrative. Either way this is a low-class jerk move by Fred,” Mickelson wrote in the post, which other users screenshotted before it was deleted.
Couples spoke about Koepka, whom he reportedly has a close relationship with, during a radio interview on Monday with KJR 93.3 FM in Seattle.
“I talk to Brooks Koepka all the time,” Couples said, per ESPN. “I love Brooks Koepka, and I’m not going to say anything extra except I talk to him all the time — ‘Where are you playing next? When are you going?’ and all this stuff.
“He wants to come back, I will say that. I believe he really wants to come back and play the Tour.”
The two golf greats have butted heads in the past with Couples, an outspoken critic of LIV Golf, calling Mickelson a “nutbag” two years ago.
The latest comments should make for an interesting champions dinner at Augusta next month, when the two Masters winners – Couples in 1992 and Mickelson in 2004, 2006 and 2010 – may cross paths.
The 34-year-old Koepka is a five-time major winner but has yet to win the Masters during his career, finishing second twice, in 2019 and 2023.
He joined LIV Golf in 2022 for a contract reportedly worth more than US$100 million over three years and became the first golfer from the breakaway tour to win a major, capturing the PGA Championship in 2023.
As of Thursday, he has not commented on his future with either LIV Golf or the PGA Tour.